Defiant Ukrainians celebrate New Year despite missile strikes by Russia

Ukrainians cheered from their balconies while their air defences blasted Russian missiles and drones out of the sky in the first hours of 2023, as Moscow saw in the new year by attacking civilian targets across Ukraine.
 

Ukraine’s Air Force command said it had destroyed 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight —32 of them on Sunday after midnight and 13 late on Saturday. That was on top of 31 missile attacks and 12 air strikes across the country in the past 24 hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled no let-up to his assault on Ukraine, in a grim and defiant